Bad news for the central bank
Last week the federal supreme court ruled in favor of the government's request to have the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), along with the Independent High Electoral Commission, the Integrity Commission, and the High Commission for Human Rights, put under the supervision of the cabinet. This is bad news for the central bank. Up to […]
Iraq: Branding the Nation
By Lisa Knight, Creative Director & Founder of The Brand Foundation. National branding is a vital strategic activity undertaken by governments worldwide, in emerging and established nations, the impact of which goes far beyond tourism -- it has the power to dramatically alter the economic landscape and attract major foreign investment, dramatically impacting the […]
Gulf Keystone Updates Kurdistan Operations
Gulf Keystone provided an update this morning on its active work program in Kurdistan. Sheikh Adi - 1 The Sheikh Adi-1 exploration well is currently at the 13.375 inch casing point at the bottom of the Cretaceous interval after side tracking around a section of the bottom hole assembly that had become stuck in the […]
Maaqal Port Receives Record Number of Ships
Southern Iraq's Maaqal Terminal port in Basra Province has received 288 ships in 2010, more than it did in any year since 1980, a Transport Ministry statement said. "The reason for such large number of ships, that was received by Maaqal Terminal in 2010, is due to the projects built as part of the reconstruction […]
Gulf Keystone - Ryder Scott Kurdistan Study Results
Gulf Keystone this morning announced the completion of an additional third party analysis of the gross oil in place resources resulting from the Shaikan-1 discovery well. The Company has previously reported gross oil in place resources, on a P90 to P10 basis, of 1.9 to 7.4 billion barrels with a mean value of 4.2 billion […]
Dubai's FiberPro in $1.5 bn Iraq Housing Deal
FiberPro Group, a Dubai-based contracting company with operations in the UAE, Cyprus and Greece, has clinched a multi-billion deal for the construction of 30,000 houses in Iraq. According to the report from the Financial Mirror, the Cypriot owners of the company, its Managing Director Fotis Athanassiou, and businessman Demetris Takoushis of Larnaca, are currently in […]
Heritage Oil Updates Corporate Presentation
Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL), whose shares fell heavily on Wednesday following its descovery of a major gas field in Kurdistan, has updated it's corporate presentation. Please click here to download the full document.
New Housing Development Announced near Basra
Works are underway to build a 640-unit housing project in the Shatt al-Arab district at a total cost of 58 billion Iraqi dinars [$50m], according to a local source in Basra on Thursday. “The project envisages 640 housing units, on an area of 56 donums [14 hectares], and would take two and half years to […]
British Parliament Briefing Paper on Iraq
The British parliament has issued a briefing paper for MPs. Written by Ben Smith, the paper is entitled "Iraq at the creation of its new government". Please click here to download.
Hyundai Wins $219m Baghdad Power Station Contract
South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction has reportedly won a contract worth $219 million to build a 500 megawatt power station near Baghdad, as part of the Iraqi government's efforts to address power shortages, a government spokesman said Wednesday. Ali al-Dabbagh, who is also a minister of state, told Dow Jones Newswires after a weekly […]
Sterling Energy Jumps on Kurdistan Update
Shares in Sterling Energy (LSE: SEY) rose 11% on Thursday after it stated it is ready to sidetrack and re-drill its Sangaw North-1 well in Kurdistan after recovering further 280 metres of drill pipe from the well after it ran into trouble in November. Interactive Investor quotes Keith Morris, analyst at Evo Securities, as saying: […]
DNO Clarifies Position on Oil Exports from Kurdistan
Norwegian oil company DNO has issued a statement clarifying its position on exports from Kurdistan: In a Stock Exchange Notice released on 24 January 2011 DNO made reference to a press released published by the KRG on 22 January 2011, where amongst other things it was reported that the central government in Baghdad and the […]